Getting People to Look at Plants

The New York Botanical Gardens has devised an ingenious way to encourage people to look at plants.  In the summer of 2011, curators paired a display garden inspired by the Alhambra with Federico Garcia Lorca’s poetry on landscapes printed on strategically placed boards throughout the gardens.  The exhibit entitled Spanish Paradise: Gardens of the Alhambra occasionally hosted flamenco music and dancers, and the cafes offered Mediterranean cuisine.  This summer, the curators brought together plants found in Monet’s gardens at Giverny and the French Symbolist poets Mallarmé and Rimbaud.  There was also an exhibit of Elizabeth Murray’s photographs of Monet’s gardens as well as Water Lily Concerts with chamber music by French composer Debussy.  Of course the cafes offered French food.  This mix of gardens with artist, poet, photographer, musician and chef unites similar sentiments expressed through different medium any one of which might be enough to spur a visit.  Once there, the experience multiplies as the initiating art form exposes you to the possible enchantment with another.  Further, associations are refreshed through the reinterpretation of a foreign land’s gardens or remembered from viewing Monet’s water lily paintings in a museum.

This exhibition is wonderful in its complete aesthetic experience.  Aesthetics is not limited by definition to visual perception alone; aesthetics is the perception of all five outer senses.  People experience the world through their perception of it and find it more meaningful when all the senses are engaged.  While designers tend to focus on appearances, and it is true that the visual sense is privileged, deeper feelings depend on the alerted perceptions of sound, taste, smell and especially touch.  Teachers of young children know that learning occurs differently for each and cultivate a variety of sensory techniques to effectively convey information.  People may develop compensating skills for difficult learning, but prefer methods that are more easily accessed.

Designers know that most projects are dominated by function with the “niceties” vulnerable to practical cost saving cuts.  People do need for things to work.  The generous budget might seem excessive with upgraded products or finishes often absorbing the so-called excess.  However, opulent gold-plated bathtubs do not enrich the experience of bathing.  One lesson from this recession – I hope – is that longer-lasting materials will be chosen making them both more sustainable and more likely to be emotionally satisfying.  The sustainable aesthetic then would be design that achieves its purpose through full aesthetic experience.

If I argue that the Monet’s Garden exhibit does this, how does that compare to the design premise of Disneyland or Las Vegas hotels?  Simulating European cities or ancient Rome can never stand for the true experience because its sanitized version is a thin visual veneer of the actual experience.  Meant to entertain, the spectator has to buy into the illusion absent the smells, sounds and feel of the actual place.  On the other hand, Monet’s Garden exhibit is meant to educate, and this makes the difference.  Each form of artistic expression offers either something familiar, or something new and challenging.  Thus the plants participate with the poetry, music, food and feelings, and have a chance to inspire the imagination.

Body of Work: Diebenkorn at the Corcoran

The Ocean Park series is the name of the body of work painted by Richard Diebenkorn (American, 1922-1993) during the last twenty-five years of his successful career.  An abstract expressionist, Diebenkorn lived in Southern California during this period and named his paintings by place and number alone.  Following the first major retrospective of the series at the Modern Art Museum of Fort Worth and then at the Orange County Museum of Art, the exhibit came to the East Coast at the Corcoran Gallery of Art for the summer of 2012.  Large oil canvases, smaller acrylics on paper, watercolors on flimsy trace, and even tiny paintings on cigar box lids, this show encompassed his full exploration of media as well as his thorough investigation of, in his words, color, form, space and line.

Diebenkorn’s work attracted my attention many years ago.  I remember paintings with chalky and smoldering color patches next to lines that frame and release simultaneously, and suggestions of picture-free landscape.  Diebenkorn’s larger paintings are bigger than a spectator making them fields to enter, and the smaller ones seem to be windows to peer through.  They are balanced without mirroring symmetry, centered without objects, frames or perspectival devices, and complete without being overly polished.  Nothing seemed rushed or accidental or over-wrought.  The art opened my sensibilities and retained my interest without insulting my emotions.

Those who create have their purposes and corresponding materials for execution.  Each project has unique pressures in the making and judgment in the finishing.  Over time, sometimes, an artist develops both vocabulary and methods that becomes a signature recognizable to others.   Those who follow this work see the flow of thought from one project to the next, and these developments and evolutions become clearer with exhibitions that gather a lot of work in one place for viewing.  Cézanne painted Mont Sainte-Victoire many, many times, but until the Philadelphia Museum of Art hosted an exhibit where a dozen of these paintings of the same subject were displayed in the same room, their visual connections were more imagined than perceived.  If before the paintings were only available sequentially, now they could be experienced in the sweep of the eye collecting impressions in layers.

Taking an idea to exhaustion gives it a chance to be fully realized.  The patience to work through one project, learn all you can, accept that it is the best you can do at that time, and then set it aside for the next commitment takes disciplined curiosity.  Seeing a collection of such work allows others to participate in this forward motion as well as to witness the artist’s honest reappraisal of past effort.  No one does this better than Diebenkorn whose play of tones for instance in blues, greens and grays, cut with fine black lines, scraped down and built up as repetitively as a Philip Glass piano solo, and in this he shows his hand, his eye, his arm’s reach, the concerns of his heart and his intellect’s questions; that is, his whole body in his work.

To Nest or not to Nest

More and more American households are made up of single people.  From recent graduates to the retired, developers are predicting the greater rental market to be studio and one-bedroom apartments.  While some designers think that great interior design is only worth attempting in larger homes with “themed” rooms expressed in furniture style, material textures and colors, and associative “meaning,” good design is even more critical if small spaces are to feel like home.

Such design begins from the moment you open the door and cross the threshold.  What greets you?  Make it strong so that it is noticeable.  A soft carpet under foot, a favorite picture on the wall, and a shelf or table for your keys, bag and mail instantly welcome you.  Keep functional kitchens and baths clear of clutter, and shift the focus away from the fixtures and appliances with new towels and matching accessories.  If the cabinets are acceptable, add things that blend enhancing their presence; if not, add things that contrast and distract your visual attention.  Keep this simple:  if purple is your favorite color, then use it plainly and boldly.

For the primary living spaces, first think about the visual assets.  View is important because you “borrow” space from beyond your limited square footage.  If you have a good view, place your reading chair or desk there.  You’ll appreciate it every time you sit down or stand up.  Even if you don’t have an appealing view, put your dining table by a window.  This may mean that the table is not right next to the kitchen, but there’s no reason to save a few steps when the destination is pleasant.  Eating is a reflective and nourishing act.  Put a small lamp on the table reminiscent of an intimate bistro.  In the sleeping area, avoid jamming the bed sides against a wall or it will be too difficult to make.  A made bed is probably the single most worthwhile daily effort to make to keep a small place tidy and inviting.  Above all, have good lighting.  Evening hours matter and multiple lamps provide better illumination than a single bright ceiling light.  It is also nice to turn lights on when you arrive and off when you are putting your home and yourself to bed.  Include a plant – they clean the air and say a caring person lives here.  If it dies, replace it and try again.

One of the harder lessons is that it is better to have nothing rather than furnishings that are cheap, in poor repair, or that you just don’t like.  If it is dirty; clean it.  If it is beyond repair; throw it away.  If it doesn’t fit; sell or donate it.  Sparse is easier and quicker to clean, but shabby just makes you feel … well, shabby.  Even if you like to entertain, arrange your space to work best for when you are alone.  The activities change anyway when friends are over, but when you are alone, your nest has to support you both physically and emotionally.

Rules of Engagement

When the future of design is discussed, on any scale, sustainable directions point to the densification of cities, preservation of rural farmland and an uncertain fate of the suburbs. Many cities, especially those with significant mass transit options, are experiencing an increase in population. Primarily young adults and those whose children no longer live at home are taking advantage of urban cultural, social and economic opportunities. The parents of school-age children are less likely to live in a city because urban public schools are often sub-standard. Public school systems that have Boards of Education with the children’s education as their top priority (as opposed to serving as a jobs program) will eventually provide the quality of education necessary for all people to want to live in the city.

In the mid-twentieth century, zoning regulations and building codes were written with strict guidelines addressing over-crowded tenement slums located near industrial and manufacturing factories. Now that the United States has evolved from a producer of goods to a provider of services, codes are being revised to embrace mixed-use development. While in the past it was healthier to separate commercial enterprises that produced toxic air and water from housing, now the ideal is to have “clean” businesses, high-end shopping and dining, exciting cultural activities, lovely parks, great schools and enriching after-school programs all within a “magic mile” - a 15 minute walk of each other. Public spaces are safe and fun; public transportation is inexpensive, quick and reliable; and cars are used for pleasure touring and not facilitating the agonizing multi-hour daily commute suffered by so many today.

What do designers have to do to make this happen? Building codes protect dwelling units from spreading fires, and the justice system upholds expectations of safety. Health care advances have reduced the fear of diseases from impure water and poor sanitation; however, protections of public health and safety are not enough. Welfare is the third aspect of the design triad for which architects are trained and people expect from what is built. But public welfare is hard to define and even harder to insure. What makes a city vital and interesting?

Public park design offers a hint. Early public parks were first royal gardens that were opened occasionally to the public, but only if they were properly dressed and behaved well. Just as train travel needed conductors to monitor the passengers’ conduct, public parks had people, now signs, to enforce rules to everyone’s benefit. Active recreation – sports fields, boating and playgrounds – were separated from areas for passive activities – people watching, listening to live music and strolling through gardens. For people to live in dense cities, architects will need to design buildings for acoustic and visual privacy. This will change the city from a place to plunder and then escape, to a place of contribution and consideration for people of many economic levels. The more diverse, the better, so long as the rules of engagement respect the health, safety and welfare of urban dwellers.

San Antonio's River Walk

Many cities were built on rivers. The waterfronts serviced industry and transportation as it was usually easier to build a private boat than a public road. For centuries, rivers were also used to flush waste gradually polluting the waters. Fortunately manufacturing has decreased and the public appreciation of urban waterfronts has increased slowly improving water quality. As cities grew, internal waterways were usually buried so that development could spread undeterred. Because subsurface waterways do not disappear just because they are unseen, many buildings built over them have basements that require constant pumping.

San Antonio has a river running through it. To control flooding, in 1939 the EPA built flood gates, the Olmos dam and channelized part of the river. In 1962, two miles were improved using local limestone making it cleaner and safer. Since then, its length has expanded to five miles with extensions under way for a northern Museum Reach and a southern Mission Reach. Along the walk are waterfalls, an amphitheater and other places for gathering. Hotels, apartment and office buildings open directing onto it, and restaurants commandeer space for sidewalk cafes. A convention center and Rivercenter Mall anchor an extension. The historic district called La Villita has preserved mid-nineteenth century cottages used by local artists. Tour boats holding 40 occupants paying $15 apiece motor along only a few minutes apart. Needless to say, this destination is a magnet for tourists and boasts that it is the biggest attraction in Texas. Is this a prime example of a possible response to the Walmart effect that has decimated so many town centers with further threats by online shopping limiting urban street life to patronizing Starbucks? Is this destination the public place of the future?

If so, then the “Rules of Common Courtesy” that list prohibited activities in the Mall area will come to define proper urban behavior. Noting concern for public safety and comfort, smoking, obstructing customer traffic, possessing or consuming drugs or alcoholic beverages (except in licensed restaurants), disorderly or disruptive conduct, pets, unlicensed (street vendor) sales, skateboarding, bicycling although you can bike there, and possession of illegal firearms although in Texas it’s hard to know what that exactly means is not tolerated. People must wear shoes and shirts, and wearing clothes with vulgar, obscene or sexually explicit language is forbidden. People stroll, shop, eat and watch each other. About 20 activities such as craft fairs, culinary tastings and water races are held annually. While people have always come to cities for economic opportunity, they get the city they make.

New urban mixed-use development labeled “Work, Live, Play” market the advantages of dense urban living. Even though most of River Walk does not have a Disney-like appearance of newness and homogeneity because it has taken over fifty years to develop, it’s still a place of spectacle. One look at the declining areas beyond the River Walk District in San Antonio shows what can only be described as the new Walmart effect.

Mastering History

Occasionally a master writes a masterpiece. John Dixon Hunt has taken a lifetime of study and given the world a book to cherish: A World of Gardens (London: Reaktion Books, 2012). This book satisfies a great need to understand how the events and people who designed gardens and landscapes worth remembering are still important to current issues of design. Types of places are presented with clear, jargon-free language and precisely chosen images that lead the reader through the history of places in Europe and the United States primarily, although the chapters on Chinese and Japanese gardens inform the Western reader well. The bibliographic footnotes are of particular importance. Here key volumes and their relevance list authors who have contributed to the field’s scholarship – books all landscape architecture and architecture history professors should know well, and students should dedicate themselves to reading from start to finish. This is also a book written for the 21^st century reader where basic information easily available online is passed over for the rich perspectives Hunt brings to a full range of topics.

This book recognizes that landscape making has always been a blend of culture and climate, which provides a strong example of sustainable design to the benefit of architects. Before better buildings can be built, natural forces need to be thought of as natural resources. Transcendent truths include the facts that hot air rises, water flows down by gravity, and stones, brick and clay tiles absorb and radiate heat. Before any active engineered systems are inserted into buildings, they should be oriented to or away from the sun and prevailing winds depending on the location. Taking advantage of thermal mass solar gain and release is a passive way to use materials to warm interiors without cost or waste. Any building that employs such passive strategies will not only require smaller and less expensive mechanical equipment initially, and lower operational costs perpetually, but will have internal “seasons” that more closely match exterior weather. This keeps people connected to and not isolated from their world.

Less than two hundred years ago buildings had no engineered equipment apart from fireplaces in northern climates. All interior rooms had natural daylight and higher ceilings in hotter climates. Some had open chimneys that drew cool air from the cellar through the house to a roof vent. While everyone today appreciates the benefits of electricity, indoor plumbing and year-round comfortable temperatures, population projections along with the food, water and energy requirements necessitated we reevaluate our expectations.

People are marvelously adaptable. We cope with many circumstances beyond our control and can thrive under some kinds of pressure. But rather than facing the challenges of surviving long commutes, working in windowless offices, eating nutrition-poor food or seeking soul-sapping entertainment, we lived in smaller spaces that are closer together but better suited to the climate, and owning less stuff. Cultures can evolve by applying the best of historic accomplishments for future practices, but only if we know and appreciate what they are.

Strategic Advantage

An important Civil War battle was fought at Antietam in western Maryland on September 17, 1842.  Called the Battle at Sharpsburg for a nearby village by the South and Antietam for a nearby creek by the North, it has the sad distinction of being the bloodiest day in American history. Over 23,000 men died or were wounded here then, which is more than the combined total of the American Revolution, the War of 1812 and the Spanish-American War. Should the South win their first battle fought in a northern state, England and France were likely to recognize their sovereign status and intervene with the coastal blockage. Should the North win, President Lincoln would have his first victory, a necessary precursor to issuing his Emancipation Proclamation freeing slaves in rebel states and allowing their military service.

The battle was fought in cornfields with surrounding hills and ridges, in forests, a sunken path later called Bloody Trail, and a stone bridge crossing Antietam Creek.  Artillery attacks from the woods across fields disrupted orderly advances, lines of soldiers that were protected by ridges fared better than those in open fields, and the sunken path was at first easily defended but later turned into a death trap. In the end, General Lee lost a quarter of his troops and retreated back across the Potomac River to Virginia. General McClellan claimed victory although Lincoln later relieved him from duty for not pursuing Lee and hopefully ending the war.

Ninety-six monuments have been erected here mostly from 1890 to 1910. They represent Union Infantry from ten states, five are for Confederate states, ten for heroic individuals including Clara Barton, and there are six mortuary cannons for the generals who died on that day or later from their wounds. They are true markers, often with figures looking toward home, commemorating those who died. They contrast sharply with recent memorial design which is so determined to be place-making. Antietam National Battlefield needs no reminder that it became a Place by the events that occurred There.

The outcome of this battle resulted in part by the strategic reading of the landscape. Excessive losses occurred where the terrain offered no protection. Now the surrounding countryside is being altered by crops of suburban housing development laid out in former cornfields in the usual single-family house clusters with no regard to orientation or response to the natural forces of sun, wind and rain. Formerly, farmhouses were located close to the road so that you could get to your livestock even through deep snow, or situated between uninterrupted field and protective forest (a version of the Savannah effect), but these new communities have ignored the lessons of strategic siting. Perhaps the cost of heating and cooling these vinyl boxes will be their first clue, or the effects of a severe storm, but eventually we will have to realize that what we design and build either works with found ecological conditions, or we forfeit strategic advantage and are committed to an extended battle with Mother Nature; one we will eventually lose.